


And We All Fall Down

by yellowbound



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Modern AU, but it does include mentions of such abuse, fake relationship au, i wrote this story before the latest hollywood abuse scandals, nothing that happens to the characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2017-06-17
Packaged: 2018-11-04 06:56:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 13,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10985733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yellowbound/pseuds/yellowbound
Summary: Hollywood fake relationship AU. Jyn and Cassian engage in a fake PR relationship to promote the movie they are working on together.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the lovely [operaticspacetrash](http://operaticspacetrash.tumblr.com/) and [this great moodboard](http://operaticspacetrash.tumblr.com/post/160986574906/gretamaya-operaticspacetrash-rebelcaptain) she put together, as well as these ([1](http://operaticspacetrash.tumblr.com/post/160974296701/plot-bunnies-strike-a-little-head-canon-scene#notes),[2](http://operaticspacetrash.tumblr.com/post/161004100586/i-guess-this-is-happening-another-random-scene-i)) short scenes.

Bodhi knocked on the door of her trailer, and opened the door upon her “Come in!”...

...only to find Cassian Andor lounging in her bed. Jyn was spread out on a nearby bean bag. Cassian looked at Bodhi, then raised an eyebrow at Jyn and started to get up. Jyn waved him off. “No, no, don’t bother, it’s just Bodhi.”

This whole exchange has given Bodhi time to recover - Jyn has decked people for a lot less than laying in her bed, and given Jyn’s initial rants he never expected to find Cassian there - and he gave her a sarcastic “Thanks.”

Jyn’s hand was still moving, waving this away as well. “You know what I mean.” She cocked her head up at him. “What’s up?”

Bodhi took a breath. Jyn wasn’t going to like this. “They cast your love interest in your next movie.”

Jyn narrowed her eyes at him. “Who is it?”

“Orson Krennic.”

“No.”

“Jyn-”

“ _No_.”

“But the contract-”

“I haven’t signed it yet. I don’t care how good it is. I’m not working with him. If any of the rumors about him are true-”

“There are worse things about Krennic than _rumors_ ,” Cassian muttered under his breath. His eyes were still on the script he was holding, but it was obvious to Bodhi he wasn’t reading it.

Bodhi remembered that Cassian had worked with Krennic, a long time ago, when Cassian was a child actor.

Jyn, all her attention suddenly focused on Cassian, asked in concern, “What happened?”

Cassian was silent a moment. He didn’t take his eyes off the page to look at either Jyn or Bodhi. “Let’s just say, I’m glad Draven was around.”

Bodhi knew he wasn’t going to get Jyn to sign that contract, and now he really didn’t think he wanted her to.

“I’ll, uh, let you know when I find something else,” he said, and quickly left Jyn’s trailer.

Jyn had hated, _hated_ , the fact that her pretend relationship with Cassian had meant that she had to pretend to spend time with him in her trailer.

(“I told him if he touches me or any of my shit I’d deck him.”

“What did he do?”

“He laid on the floor and took a nap.”

Bodhi had started laughing. Jyn hung up on him.)

At some point, Jyn’s complaints about Cassian had just sort of petered off, her full vitriol turned on Draven and the way he treated Cassian. Jyn had stated she didn’t understand why Cassian tolerated it, she had seen him walk away from others for far less.

Bodhi felt she now had her answer to that question.

And he had his answer to his - he had wanted to see for himself how her relationship with Cassian was going. He had thought, perhaps, it was no longer just for show, and while he didn’t know how far they had progressed, he knew they weren’t just acting anymore.

He knew people on set - they weren’t spies, really - that had always kept him informed, an occupational necessity where Jyn was concerned. The first comments had really concerned Bodhi - “I think working together might end their relationship.” and “They don’t even seem to like one another.” and “Jyn locked Cassian out of his own trailer!” but they had slowly changed to “You know, I used to think they were together because the hate sex must be great, but today he brought her a cup of coffee and she looked pleased.” and “Jyn got into a screaming match with Draven over the way he treats Cassian.” and “We left them on the lakeshore when we were done shooting, I’m not sure they even noticed we left.”

Bodhi hoped they wouldn’t have gone back to hating each other by the time it was time to do the promotional tour.

*

His hope seemed to have been in vain when he was sent the link to TMZ’s latest about Cassian being caught ‘cheating’ on Jyn with another actress. They had pictures of them making out in a vehicle and everything.

Bodhi sighed and immediately put himself on a plane to Jyn’s latest shoot. She was done with the primary filming for her project with Cassian and had moved on to another project, before the press tour began.

“You didn’t need to come here.”

Bodhi really hadn’t expected any other greeting. “I thought it was best.”

“It’s a pretend relationship, remember?”

Bodhi sighed. It hadn’t seemed all that pretend last time he saw them together. “When was the last time you spoke with him?”

Jyn worried at her bottom lip. “Jyn?” he prompted.

“The last day on set.”

Bodhi raised on eyebrow at her. “Really?” The tabloids had gotten that right, then, that there hadn’t been much communication between them.

She shrugged. “He hasn’t called me.”

“What prevented you from calling him?”

“Why would I call him? We were just-”

Bodhi held up his hands. “Yeah, it was pretend, I know. But your contract stipulates that your pretend relationship runs through the press tour, which you haven’t done yet.”

Jyn pointed at her chest. “You’re supposed to be on my side!”

“I am. That’s why I’m here. To make sure you don’t do anything to violate your contract. This is going to cost him, you know.”

Jyn just glared at him.

Bodhi sighed. “You’re going to have to be careful.”

“I _am_ careful.”

“They’re going to be all over you.” By ‘they’ he meant the tabloids - and the gossipy side of the internet. Which was basically the entire internet.

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Well, don’t.”

“I supposed I’m going to have to forgive him.”

“Fake-forgive him,” Bodhi reminded her. She rolled her eyes at him. “Just for the press tour. Then you’re done.”

“What about him? How is anyone going to keep him from…”

“Screwing up?” Bodhi offered, when it didn’t seem like Jyn could find the words for what she wanted to say. At her nod, he said, “The studio sent Leia Organa to sit on him.”

For the first time since Bodhi had gotten to her, Jyn smiled. “Serves him right.”

*

Leia Organa, the daughter of a big shot Hollywood producer. Leia Organa, who was a producer in her own right, and one of the most feared and respected people in Hollywood. If Leia decided she no longer wanted to have anything to do with you, your options suddenly became a lot more limited, because there were few people who wanted to be on her bad side.

Cassian certainly wasn’t one of the people who did, and Leia could tell by the way he winced when she asked him, “What the hell were you thinking?!?” She didn’t ask nicely.

“I… was trying not to.”

“Why?”

“I… did something stupid.”

“That’s why I’m here, having to babysit you.”

Cassian winced. “I don’t mean being caught by the tabloids with someone I wasn’t supposed to be caught with.”

“You did something _else_ stupid?” Leia was incredulous. She could almost see Cassian shrinking on himself. He looked like he wanted to disappear through the floor. She wasn’t particularly surprised there was more stupid - she was dating Han Solo, after all - and she had heard about what Cassian was like on the set of his current project. Oh, he did his job, he wasn’t so out of it as to inconvenience the crew, but when he wasn’t actually working he was a terror.

“It’s not-” Cassian licked his lips. “I don’t think-”

Leia crossed her arms. “Stop not thinking _and tell me what it is_.”

Cassian closed his eyes. “I fell for it. Jyn, and what she was doing. We had a contract and everything but I thought…” Cassian trailed off, unable or unwilling to continue.

His head was bowed, Leia couldn’t see if his eyes were open or not, there was hair in the way and she wasn’t close enough, despite the height difference. Her eyes got wide as she contemplated the sorry state of the person in front of her. “Are you telling me that you actually fell for Jyn Erso?”

He nodded glumly, still not looking at her. “I was stupid and pathetic.”

“Stupid and pathetic doesn’t mean worthless, so stop acting like it does.”

He glanced up, finally looking at her, his eyes wide. “We all make mistakes,” she added, not unkindly.

He shrugged, shifting his eyes from her to look out a window. Well, at least he wasn’t looking down.

“So now you need to fix this,” Leia told him.

“Fix what? We weren’t actually in a relationship.”

“No, but you managed to humiliate her, anyway.”

Cassian winced. “Oh.”

_Yeah ‘oh’_ , thought Leia. _Actors_.

“I’ve had actual relationships that were less complicated than this.”

Leia smiled. She did feel for him, but he still needed to get his act together.

*

Jyn allowed herself to be seen accepting the flowers Cassian sent.

An earlier conversation with Bodhi had prepared her for their arrival:

“I don’t understand how flowers are supposed to make up for the fact that he cheated on me,” Jyn had complained to her when Bodhi had told her to expect a delivery.

“They’re not, they’re just supposed to be a reason you might not punch him in the face during the press tour. And you have to at least pretend to read the card.”

“I’m not reading the card in front of anyone, I’ll be in my trailer.”

“I know, but people will notice if you opened it or not.”

“I could’ve opened it and put it back with the flowers.”

“ _Jyn_ ,” said Bodhi, exasperated with her.

“Fine,” she snapped, and hung up on him.

After placing the flowers on a table in her trailer, she opened the card. She couldn’t help from reading it, especially when she noticed it was hand-written, not typed.

_Jyn,_

_I don’t really think flowers were an appropriate apology, so I sent something else with them._

_I am sorry for embarrassing you._

_Love, Cassian_

She supposed he had to put the ‘love’, in case anyone else saw it. Only she would understand that he was apologizing for getting caught with someone else when they were supposed to be in a fake relationship, not for cheating on her.

She looked around the flowers and noticed a small box. Fishing it out, she opened it to find crystal earrings, matching the necklace her mother had given her. It was neither a cheap nor thoughtless gift.

Jyn sighed. She supposed she might be able to put up with him on the upcoming press tour.

She could always fling them dramatically into the ocean when she broke up with him, after.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassian and Jyn are forced to share hotel rooms as they travel the world on the promotional tour of their movie.

Jyn thought she could put up with Cassian, until she found out the studio would not be paying for separate rooms for the two of them on the press tour.

“This is a terrible idea,” she said to Bodhi over the phone, when he broke the news to her. He would not want to give her such news in person.

“It’s much too late for that thought now.”

“I’m positive I had that thought before I agreed to this,” said Jyn, throwing stuff in her suitcase. Her assistant was going to come along and tell her she hadn’t packed correctly, but Jyn didn’t care.

“You agreed to it anyway.”

“I don’t think I should forgive him yet. You know, Beyonce had her sister beat up Jay-Z in an elevator.”

“You don’t have a sister.”

“I have you.”

“I am not beating up Cassian in an elevator.”

“I’m finding a new agent.”

A few days later, Jyn stood in the lobby of her hotel, waiting for Cassian to appear. She fidgeted with some ribbons on the dress her stylist had picked out for her. Her outfit highlighted her necklace, while her hair was pulled back to reveal the matching earrings Cassian had gotten her. She had made sure to drop a few casual comments here and there about the earrings to various people, and sure enough, the fact that they were a gift from Cassian had ended up in the tabloids. It would be the first time she had seen him since filming had wrapped. Now they were about to travel the world together.

She had thought, after they had parted, _well, if he calls me, I’ll know where I stand_. He had never called, or messaged, or done anything besides like carefully arranged social media posts and she had told herself to not be surprised or upset. Cassian’s reputation wasn’t from nothing - he was incredibly attractive and definitely knew how to treat someone to get what he wanted, if he was in the right mood.

She straightened and stopped fidgeting when she saw him enter the lobby. He headed straight for her. This had all been prearranged by the studio beforehand. As he approached, Jyn found herself wishing they had pre-arranged something themselves, so this wouldn’t be so uncomfortable. But she had never felt like contacting him was her best option, and he had never contacted her…

In a minute, he was before her, reaching for her, though instead of leaning in to kiss her like planned, he held back, his eyes asking a question. Jyn answered it by lifting her chin, inviting his kiss. He was asking for permission, and she was giving it, but Jyn found herself annoyed that any of this was necessary at all-

And then his mouth was on hers, and all those sensations she had spent the last several months trying to forget came flooding back. She pulled him closer, one of his hands cupping her face, then moving back to run through her carefully arranged hair. She had tried so desperately not to think about this, not to think about _him_ , that she found herself unprepared and overwhelmed when everything came flooding back.

Cassian finally pulled away from her, breathing harder than he had been when he had first approached her. They had made quite a spectacle of themselves, Jyn hoped the paparazzi watching through the windows from across the street had appreciated it. She didn’t particularly want to admit that she had also appreciated it.

“Good?” Cassian asked softly, intently studying her face. Jyn could only nod as she sucked on her lower lip, returning his intense gaze, too aware of where his hands still touched her. She didn’t know how she was going to do this.

They were quickly whisked away for their first appearance, Cassian, throwing kisses and waving to the camera, never straying far from her side. She smiled and presented herself as instructed, leaning into Cassian whenever he had an arm around her. Cassian, at least, made this easy (or hard) on her, often seeming to mold his body against hers for the camera, his arm a solid weight around her waist, holding her close.

Much later that evening, they both retired to their room, exhausted, knowing they not only had to travel tomorrow but also had another appearance scheduled after their arrival. Traveling around the world wasn’t overly glamorous on such a packed schedule. Jyn would visit many places that she never really got to see.

Their room had only a king sized bed, not even a couch - someone at the studio was really messing with them.

“You can have the bed,” Cassian said to her, studying their situation.

“It’s big enough for both of us.”

“You told me if I touched any of your shit you’d deck me.”

Jyn had thought they were passed this. Granted, they had never shared a bed unless they had been in front of a camera, but surely they could handle this. “It’s not my bed.”

He shrugged, already undressing, his back to her. “It is tonight.”

Jyn watched him take his shirt off, annoyed with him for being stubborn for no reason she could see. She shook herself, turning away, slowly getting ready for bed - she didn’t need to stand there staring like a fool. By the time she was done, Cassian had taken a blanket and pillow from the bed and was feigning sleep. Jyn fought the urge to walk over and kick him. She was tired, he wasn’t worth it.

Too flustered and annoyed despite her exhaustion to fall asleep immediately, she laid there blaming Cassian for her current state. She alternated between silently cursing him out and wishing she could go over to him and curl up against him until she eventually fell asleep.

*

Their next appearance was going the same as the first, when Cassian suddenly tensed at Jyn’s side. Jyn didn’t move away or let him go, she just looked around for what was causing him stress, and soon spotted Orson Krennic approaching. Her dad had known Krennic in college - “He has interesting ideas, Jyn,” was what he said. Jyn hadn’t paid attention. She didn’t know what their relationship was now. She didn’t know if Krennic had been bitter, when, through her father, he had offered to help get her foot in the door in Hollywood. Jyn had refused. She hadn’t been on great terms with her father, and she didn’t want to be indebted to him for any aspect of her career. She wanted to do it on her own.

“It’s good to see you, Cassian,” Krennic said with any easy smile.

“Orson.” Cassian’s smile was tight, not easy or real.

Krennic turned his eyes and smile on her. “Jyn! It’s good to see you. A shame, we didn’t get to do the last movie together. You would’ve been so much better than the terrible actress I was forced to work with.”

 _The poor actress, you mean_ , Jyn thought. Why Krennic would think him putting down another woman would please her, Jyn didn’t know. But then she really wasn’t interested in trying to get at what Krennic was thinking. “I had an opportunity I felt I couldn’t say no to,” Jyn told Krennic with her brightest smile. She could at least keep his attention off Cassian, who had not calmed down besides her.

“Orson,” said a cold voice from Cassian’s other side. Draven had appeared out of nowhere. Jyn hadn’t even realized he had arrived. She had never been so happy to see his sour face.

Krennic quickly made his excuses and moved away, leaving the three of them to continue. Jyn appreciated that Draven said nearby for awhile. Cassian, an excellent actor, hid his tension well, but it was still there.

Later that evening, he stood on the balcony of the room they shared, leaning against the railing, looking out over the city. It was a lovely view, but Jyn felt he was a million miles from here.

She went to the minibar and got him a bottle - the studio was paying, after all - poured it in a glass and took it out to him.

When she offered it to him with a gentle nudge, he stared down at the glass, frowning, as though it were an alien substance.

“Alcohol,” Jyn prompted gently, still holding the glass out to him.

He sighed. “I can’t. Leia told me not to drink.”

“I think you could use it, after today.”

“Leia’s scary.”

Jyn smiled ruefully at that, pulling the glass away, moving closer, stepping next to him, looking out over the city.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

A flick of his head, as though displacing a fly buzzing at his ear. “There’s nothing to tell.” Jyn raised an eyebrow - that was a whole lot of reaction for nothing. As though sensing her unspoken question, Cassian, who had gone back to staring out over the city, sighed and said, “I was very young, when I was working with Krennic on my first Hollywood picture. I’d done plenty of films in Mexico, but this was a whole different world, in a language I wasn’t entirely comfortable with. Krennic befriended me, brought me gifts, made time for me after a long day. Draven always came to get me, though, before I was alone with Krennic for too long. Eventually, Krennic stopped interacting with me altogether, and it wasn’t until later that I found out it was because Draven threatened to ruin him.”

“Ruin him? Draven was a new director at the time, threatening someone like Krennic took balls.”

Cassian nodded. “Draven told him he had images of Krennic with young boys.”

“He didn’t go to the police?” Jyn asked, appalled.

Cassian shook his head. “Draven was lying. He didn’t have proof, all he had were rumors. And what he saw Krennic doing with me. If Draven hadn’t heard the rumors, I’m not sure he would’ve been suspicious. I didn’t realize then how vulnerable child actors are. If Draven hadn’t been there, I don’t know what would’ve happened.”

Jyn, who had long since set aside the glass she had originally carried out to him, slipped her arm through his, locking their elbows together. “He was there, though.”

“I know. I just wish… well, there’s no proof, you know? Either there’s someone like Draven around, who protects kids and believes what they say, or there’s not. There’s no inbetween.”

Jyn was silent, gently moving her fingers along his arm. “My father went to school with him.” To Cassian’s questioning glance: “Krennic.”

“I didn’t know that. Did you know him?”

Jyn shook her head. “I knew of him, I might have met him when I was very young, but I have no memories of him. My father said he offered to help me out in Hollywood if I needed it, but I wasn’t really on good terms with my father, so I didn’t take him up on it.”

“That’s good,” said Cassian softly, reaching out to play gently with her fingers on his arm. Jyn watched his profile, as the breeze played with the hair falling over his eyes. Whatever else he might feel for her, Jyn at least knew that he trusted her.

“Please don’t sleep on the floor tonight.”

He turned with a hint of a laugh and smiled at her. “Okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who read and commented on the first chapter, I hope you enjoy this update!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jyn gets an unexpected phone call from her father following the Hollywood premiere.

The earrings he had gotten her that matched her necklace had been his idea, it hadn’t been anything planned by the studio.

The bracelet he got her that went with her dress for the big Hollywood premiere was also his idea. She didn’t need to know that, however, but at least he got to give her this one in person and it wasn’t because he had done anything stupid.

The premiere went about as well as they could hope, made easier by the fact that many positive reviews had started to roll in. No small number of them where going out of their way to mention the chemistry between the two leads, calling it a star turn for Jyn, which mattered more to Cassian than what they were saying about him. Cassian had done promotions for movies that had quite a bit of negative press, and he had to admit he liked this situation better. The studio didn’t ask for any big displays of public affection at the premiere, as they didn’t feel it was necessary. That also made the evening easier for both Jyn and Cassian.

Their hotel room for the premiere was a suite, meaning Cassian could sleep on the fold-out bed in the living area if he wanted to, but Jyn made it clear to him that wasn’t necessary. Cassian didn’t know what to do - he wasn’t terribly comfortable sleeping next to her, mostly because he wanted to move in closer and it could be hard to keep to his side of the bed. He had managed to not embarrass himself in that regard, at least. He wasn’t sure what Jyn really wanted - did she not mind him sharing the bed, or was she just saying that because she felt sorry for him?

When he had brought this up with Leia, Leia had reminded him that Jyn Erso did not have a reputation for being nice for the sake of it.

Tired but happy at how the whole day had gone, Jyn had insisted he take a shower first, she wanted to check her messages and look through social media.

He was surprised when he walked out of the shower and Jyn was sitting on her bed, still fully dressed, one shoe in her hand while the other was still on her foot. She was frowning down at her phone.

“Jyn?” he asked softly, unsure if he should approach her or even intrude.

She looked up at him slowly, her eyes taking a minute to focus, register his presence. “My dad left me a message,” she said, her voice containing none of the animation it had half an hour ago when she had teased him about his dress slowly becoming less formal throughout the evening, as he had lost his tie and unbuttoned his shirt. That Jyn was gone.

Cassian walked gingerly over to her, sitting next to her on the bed, but still careful to leave her plenty of space. “What did he say?”

“He congratulated me on the movie, said he was looking forward to seeing it.” A pause. “He also apologize for the way he acted when my mother was sick.”

Cassian did not think that such an apology was best done by phone message, but he doubted Jyn would have agreed to meet him so he could do it in person.

He reached out and took the shoe from her hand, briefly wondering if removing her other shoe would be too familiar an action before rejecting it based on the way Jyn was sitting so still. He settled for offering his hand in place of the shoe, which Jyn took, gripping tightly while pressing his hand against her thigh.

Cassian’s parents had died when he was young, and he had always envied those who had parents to celebrate their accomplishments with them. He had never thought of this, though - having a parent who would make a day that had gone wonderfully worse.

Jyn sighed and put the phone down on the night stand next to the bed, though she did not let go of Cassian’s hand. She had only ever alluded to what happened between herself and father when very drunk or very tired, and Cassian knew better than to push.

“When it became clear that the standard treatments were doing nothing, my father…” Jyn took a breath, “well, he knew people. Who could- who could get her onto whatever clinical trials were available. That’s the first time we came to the US.” Cassian ran his thumb along her knuckles, but otherwise was as still as Jyn was, letting her tell this in her own time. “We didn’t know anyone and the treatments-” Jyn shook herself. “My mother suffered so much.”

“You don’t have to forgive him.”

Jyn looked at him for the first time since he had sat down next to her. “That is the exact opposite of what people normally tell me.”

Cassian gave her a small smile. He had seen people claim forgiveness was necessary for moving on, but in his experience it wasn’t necessary at all.

Jyn looked down to where their hands met against her thigh. She made no effort to move them. “He did it because he couldn’t stand the thought of losing her. It’s not like I wanted to lose her, either, but- maybe it would’ve been better, if we had enjoyed the time we had left, instead of making her suffering worse.”

“Jyn,” he said, quietly enough that she could ignore him if she wanted to. When she looked up at him, he continued, “You don’t have to forgive your father, but… it might help if you forgave yourself.” 

Jyn’s free hand moved to clasp her mother’s necklace, only it wasn’t in its normal position, not going with the dress she had selected for the premiere.

“I’ll get it,” said Cassian, detangling his hand from Jyn’s - he knew she had left it on the dresser. Coming back to her, he helped her fasten it, and then said, “Why don’t you go take a shower?”

Jyn nodded and finally moved from the bed.

Cassian stretched himself along it, spreading out, staring at the ceiling. He had hoped only to crawl into bed somewhere in their suite after the day, he had not expected this. He knew Jyn hadn’t, either.

He started to get up when Jyn came out of the bathroom, only she indicated she wanted him to stay with a wave of her hand. Cassian melted back down into the bed and Jyn curled up next to him. He thought maybe they should move so they could actually be under the covers, but with Jyn so close he didn’t feel it worth it to disrupt their current situation.

Cassian fell asleep with Jyn’s still-wet hair pressing against his skin.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jyn and Cassian enjoy spending time together on their press tour.

Jyn woke with Cassian pressed along side her, his forehead touching the base of her neck. By his even breathing, Jyn guessed he was still asleep.

While Jyn enjoyed the relaxed feeling of his arm around her, she was also trying not to panic. They had left the US behind to promote the movie in Asia, their current stop being Tokyo. The night before, celebrating with the rest of the promotional crew the success of the opening weekend in America, there had been drinking (well, Jyn had been drinking, Cassian was still too scared of Leia) and dancing and, afterwards, alone in their hotel room, when she had pulled Cassian close to continue the dancing, he had kissed her, even though no one had been watching. She had pulled away in confusion, looking around for the hidden camera, when Cassian had laughed softly at her, a deep, lovely sound that delighted Jyn more than anything else had so far that evening, and said, no, there’s no one here, just us, I’m kissing you because I want to, is that okay? And Jyn said yes, and they kept going, until Cassian was pulling her down on the bed, most of their clothes discarded. Jyn pulled back, Cassian asking her what was wrong, Jyn asking him if he was sure, if he really wanted her, if- and Cassian, out of relief that she wasn’t pulling back because he had hurt her, assured her that, yes, he really did want her, was she sure she wanted to do this, did she have too much to drink? And she had assured him she had stop drinking hours ago - really, they had spent so much time reassuring one another that Jyn was surprised they ever got to the sex part, but they had both been really determined.

Now, though, Jyn found herself wondering if he had just been saying stuff to get her to sleep with him. She tried to comfort herself with the reminder that she wasn’t his type.

When he woke, he kissed the base of her neck, pulling her closer. That calmed Jyn down some - she let herself relax further into his arms. At least he didn’t seem to be upset about this situation.

Both of their alarms went off at the same time, leading to a lot of complaining as they tried to reach over one another for their phones.

Instead of doing what their phones were telling them to do, they settled back down in bed, facing one another. “What is it?” Jyn asked, as she traced a line down Cassian’s jaw, letting her fingers play with the hair at the base of his neck. Cassian looked ridiculously pleased.

“I just-” Jyn tugged a bit. He smiled wider and licked his lips, his eyes closing briefly. “I just… want to be with you… and have it not be an act.”

“So don’t act.”

He searched her face intently. “Okay.”

Jyn had wondered what ‘not acting’ meant to him, if it meant no longer holding her hand or putting an arm around her waist, but it turned out he meant to do more for her - brushing her hair back when it fell in her face, a thumb brushing along her hip out-of-sight of any cameras, all the small, intimate touches that were too much for a fake relationship. It was all so incredibly reassuring that Jyn just sort of wanted to melt into the floor. She hoped no one noticed.

“I thought the two of you were professionals,” said Draven as he approached where they were waiting to go out on stage. Jyn cringed. So much for no one noticing. “You weren’t actually supposed fall for one another.” He didn’t bother to hide his displeasure.

Jyn opened her mouth to retort, the last thing she wanted was Draven laying into Cassian again, when Cassian gave him his brightest smile and put his arm around Jyn, resting his chin on Jyn’s head. Jyn wondered what sort of picture they made.

With astonishment, Jyn watched Draven almost imperceptibly soften. Cassian and Draven’s relationship was so _weird_.

*

“I slept with Cassian.”

Suddenly, Bodhi was wide awake. Jyn, it was Jyn calling him in the middle of the night. Jyn, who was in Tokyo, promoting her movie with Cassian.

“How was it?”

“It was good, he- _Bodhi_ ,” Jyn hissed.

“You were about to describe sex with Cassian, please continue,” Bodhi encouraged her.

Jyn huffed on the other end of the line.

“It’s god-only-knows what time in the morning, it’s the least you could do.”

“Did I wake you? Oh, sorry, I forgot-”

“I know, Jyn, don’t worry about it,” Bodhi reassured her as he pushed himself into a sitting position on the floor, leaning against his bed. He had fallen off it trying to answer his phone. He wasn’t terribly coordinated at this hour of the day. He didn’t blame Jyn, though. She was traveling so much she didn’t even know what time zone she was in, let alone what time it was for anyone else.

“This doesn’t affect the contract, does it?”

“There’s nothing in there saying you can’t sleep with him.”

“It says we have to break up, though.”

“It’s just for show. Break up, get back together, the studio won’t care.”

“I don’t want to hurt him.”

Bodhi wasn’t concerned about her hurting him - Cassian could handle himself - but he was concerned about Jyn’s career. Now that the movie was out in the US and doing well, opportunities for Jyn were rolling in, helped, no doubt, by the fact that she had behaved herself on her last movie set even without Cassian. This had lead to horribly misogynistic articles about how Cassian had ‘tamed’ Jyn, that had left Jyn ranting to Bodhi over the phone about them - and nothing else. In the past, such press would have caused Jyn to disrupt whatever project she was working on by punching the next person who looked at her the wrong way. This time, nothing happened besides Jyn voicing her displeasure. Even Cassian ‘cheating’ didn’t seem to get to her - she had just seemed disappointed. Of course, it was _Cassian_ who had been a holy terror on his last movie set, as though Jyn had passed the crazy on to him. Bodhi desperately hoped Cassian wasn’t going to pass it back. Wait - now he was thinking like those misogynistic articles. Damn, he really needed to stop reading them.

Right. Jyn, her career, his job. And now, apparently, her personal life. Bodhi pressed a hand to his face, trying to make himself think properly at an hour of the day he shouldn’t even be awake.

“Look, do what the studio wants you to. It’s just for show. Your actual relationship with Cassian is private. You don’t ever need to post anything, acknowledge anything, talk about anything. Think of Katie Holmes and Jamie Foxx. Or do the opposite. Just see this contract through.”

“Okay. Thanks, Bodhi.” Jyn sounded relieved.

“You good?”

“I’m good.”

They said their good-byes and hung up, Bodhi climbing back into bed with the hope of a few more hours of sleep until he had to get up for real.

*

Leaning against one another near a wall, taking a few moments from their busy day, as others set up their next interview around them, Cassian asked Jyn if she had any plans immediately after the press tour was done.

Jyn shook her head. “I was just planning to go home and relax.”

“Would you like to go somewhere with me instead?”

That’s when it hit Jyn - that this was a real relationship, something he wanted to continue, and that when the studio stopped arranging everything for them, they would have to do it themselves. Jyn had no real idea how to do this, her relationships were always so volatile and her schedule so random that she could go months without seeing whoever she was seeing at the time. She didn’t want that to happen with Cassian. They hadn’t planned this, in the way that their entire relationship had been mapped out from beginning to end but their actually falling for one another was never part of the deal.

“I would.” Jyn couldn’t keep herself from smiling, as she watched the controlled chaos around her. Jyn’s mind immediately went to sunning on the beach next to a mostly-naked Cassian. “Some place warm?”

“I, uh, was thinking the opposite, actually.” She looked at him skeptically. “So, you know, we could… make one another warm.”

Jyn saw what he was getting at and grinned at him. “With skiing?”

“Do you ski?”

“No, you?”

“No,” he said, laughing a bit. “I guess we can find someone to give us lessons.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“It does.”

*

After an exhausting round of solo interviews, Jyn was happy to see Cassian waiting for her, but her happiness turned sour when she got closer and saw the look on his face. “What is it?” she asked, not wanting to know the answer.

Cassian, not wanting to tell her, instead held out his phone, letting her read the news. _Is Orson Krennic Jyn Erso’s real father?_ the headline screamed in bold print. Scrolling through the article, Jyn learned that Krennic was claiming to have slept with her mother behind her father’s back for years. Further, Krennic claimed that he had to push Jyn’s father to do more for her mother when her mother had gotten sick, because her father knew about the infidelity. So did Jyn, that’s why her relationship with her ‘father’ was so strained.

Feigning calm, Jyn turned from Cassian and walked into the nearest bathroom. She had no idea if it was for men or women, and she didn’t care. Locking herself in, she threw the phone as hard as she could against the wall, watching it shatter all over the bathroom floor, leaving a dent in the drywall.

She had been so _happy_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has left comments and kudos, this is a fun story to write! I am glad you are enjoying it, I hope this chapter doesn't change that. :D


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone deals with Krennic's latest bullshit.

Cassian hadn’t seen Jyn in awhile - she had stalked out of the bathroom, ordering him not to follow her.

He had heard something shatter while she was in there, and after she left he went to discover the pieces of his phone. He looked for his sim card while picking up the pieces, but couldn’t find it. Cassian sighed. He had a backup somewhere, but it wasn’t on him. He was going to have to contact someone about getting a new phone, that someone being his agent, Kay, but he didn’t feel like it at the moment.

He used the hotel phone to call Leia. The studio could pay for the international call.

“What am I supposed to do?” he asked, after explaining the situation to her.

“Knife Krennic?” Leia suggested helpfully.

“That sounds like something Jyn would do.”

“Oh, there’s a long list of people besides Jyn who wouldn’t mind seeing Krennic take a knife in the back. Or front. Or head. They’d push it in further.”

“Are you one of those people?”

“Are you _not_?”

Cassian wasn’t prone to violence and didn’t like hurting others. He hated doing his own stunts, for fear he’d hit someone accidentally. His thoughts about Krennic revolved around trying not to think about him alternated with wishing he was somewhere he couldn’t hurt others.

Cassian sighed and closed his eyes. “I just don’t want anything to do with him. But if I have to, for Jyn’s sake…”

“I know. I’m sorry. I’ll do what I can to make sure you don’t have to deal with Krennic.”

Cassian thanked her and hung up, unsure what Leia could do. This was more personal than professional. Though he knew not to doubt or underestimate her.

When Jyn returned it was very late. Cassian was still up, worrying. He had spent the last hour wondering if he should call someone and who should that someone be. He had thought about calling Jyn, but he knew the number that would appear on her phone wouldn’t be one she recognized. He didn’t want to upset her more than she already was.

He was out of his chair as soon as he heard the door open. He wanted to ask her if she was alright, but at the sight of her he couldn’t say anything. She held out something to him. “Here’s your phone. I’m sorry I broke your old one.” He took it from her, astonished, but before he could say anything she handed him a heavy plastic bag. Peering inside, he found it was full of Japanese candy. So Jyn had noticed his delight at trying new sweets wherever their travels took them. More, she had remembered, even after what had happened earlier today. And she had decided to get him some.

Cassian recognized this move. Placing both phone and bag of candy on the bed, he turned and took Jyn’s face in his hands. “Hey,” he said. “It’s okay. I’m not upset about the phone, but thank you for getting me a new one. I’m glad you’re o- here.” He almost said ‘okay’, but realized that wasn’t appropriate, and he knew she wouldn’t like him using ‘safe’.

Jyn brought one hand up to lock around his wrist, the other grabbing his belt. “I didn’t mean to worry you.”

“I know.” Cassian let his forehead fall to meet hers.

“We should go to bed.” By this point, Jyn’s fingers had worked their way between his shirt and pants, and were pressed up against his skin.

“Did you talk to your father?” Cassian wanted to take the words back as soon as they were out of his mouth. They didn’t need to talk about this right now.

Jyn didn’t take the question badly, though. “No, I thought about it, but I wanted to be calmer, first.”

Cassian once again found himself wishing he and Jyn had separate rooms. He felt the least he could offer her was privacy. Though considering the way she wrapped herself around him, entangling her legs with his, she didn’t seem to mind him being there.

This was a great way for Krennic to get at both him and Jyn. He wouldn’t look great when he broke up with her, though he didn’t care about that. He did care that it would be difficult to be supportive of her if he was supposed to be dumping her. He wondered if Krennic had guessed their relationship was arranged by the studio, but he realized Krennic probably hadn’t had to guess. Krennic was really well connected, it was how he kept getting jobs. It felt to Cassian like all of Hollywood knew his secret, but only half were turned off by it. The rest protected Krennic. He made them money, that was all that mattered.

The next morning, when Cassian had made to leave the room to give Jyn privacy for her call, she had just shaken her head, saying she would appreciate it if he stayed. If Jyn had stripped and said she was going to run naked through the morning commuter traffic of Tokyo, he would not have been more astonished. But he did what he could to hide it, and sat in a chair next to hers while she made the call.

“Father? Yes, I saw what- no, no, fuck Krennic, I know he’s lying.” A pause. Cassian was close enough that he could just make out Galen saying he had recently shut out Krennic, that he no longer listened to him. Galen thought Krennic was doing this to get back at him. “I’m glad you’re not on good terms with him, but he’s not doing this just to get back at you.” She told him about the contract she had been close to signing, to working on a movie with Krennic, but had backed out when his casting had been confirmed. With the success of her recent movie, Jyn was finally high profile enough for someone like Orson Krennic to leech off of. What better way for him to do so than by claiming he was her father?

Cassian noticed Jyn left him out of it.

When Galen said something Cassian didn’t quite catch, Jyn looked at him nervously, briefly, before saying, “Um, I don’t know, I’ll think about it.”

“My father wants me to come see him when the press tour is over,” Jyn said, when she hung up the phone.

The fact that she hadn’t immediately said no told Cassian that she did want to go. So much for their planned post-work getaway. “I can go with you, if you want,” he said hesitatingly.

Jyn frowned. “We’re supposed to break up.”

“The studio’s not going to care if it’s a few days later. They didn’t even give an exact date, just ‘after the press tour’.”

“It’s not going to look good for you to break up with me in the middle of all this.”

“I’m a man. They didn’t stop employing Johnny Depp because he physically assaulted Amber Heard.”

“You’re not American, though. How much did you have to pay for letting the paparazzi photograph you with someone else?”

Cassian shrugged, trying to play in casual. “I could afford it.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“I… don’t actually know. Kay took care of it.” His agent Kay was very good, too good, at dealing with his problems. Well, except his Jyn-related problems, because Kay couldn’t quite understand Cassian having feelings for anyone. He could see where Jyn was going with this, though, and didn’t want her to be punished for breach of contract. “We’ll think of something.”

Jyn nodded in agreement, looking very much like she had already made up her mind about what she wanted to do.

*

The plane flight from Tokyo to Beijing wasn’t a lot of fun, as they spent it strategizing on how to handle the questions they were sure to get about Krennic and his outlandish claims. Draven suggested she just say he’s a lying asshole, which is what everyone wanted to say about him anyway. Jyn had never quite appreciated Draven so much. He was incredibly hard on his actors, but he always stood up for them, too. As long as they weren’t Krennic.

Cassian could only watch and admire as Jyn laid out what they had discussed for their interviewer: “I don’t want to justifying his claims with a paternity test,” Jyn stated when asked. “It doesn’t matter, as my father is the man that raised me. Our estrangement has nothing to with Orson Krennic’s existence.” 

Cassian cut in when the interviewer kept pressing.

Which got Cassian what he wanted, the interviewer’s focus off of Jyn. She might just come out with Draven’s suggestion if she kept being pressed. Which wasn’t the worst thing, but that sort of statement could bring more attention to this, when they were trying to do the opposite.

The unintended consequence of diverting the interviewer’s attention was that it was now focused on Cassian, and his least favorite topic: Orson Krennic.

“You used to work with Mr. Krennic, Mr. Andor, what did you think of him?”

“I was very young,” Cassian said, not wanting to get into his personal feelings about Krennic with anyone. Honestly, he’d rather talk about his dead parents. He was very young when they died, but his memories of them were entirely positive.

“Surely, you must have some opinion of the man who could be your father-in-law.”

Cassian’s heart hammered in his chest, but he could hardly explain that to his interviewer. “I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Erso.”

“I was talking about Mr. Krennic.”

“Krennic is a lying asshole,” he said flatly. He knew he should not have said that, should not have let the interviewer goad him into such an answer, but he was just happy he didn’t growl it out.

“We’re here to promote a movie, not talk about my parentage,” Jyn cut in.

“People want to-”

Jyn shrugged. “None of their business. Next question.”

The interview ended shortly afterward.

“You okay?” Jyn asked him, as soon as they were out of site of the interviewer.

“Yeah.” That was supposed to be his line. “You?”

She nodded and then looked past him. Cassian turned to see Draven approaching. “How did it go?” he asked. When they were done explaining their interview to him, Draven reached out and put his hand on Cassian’s forearm, giving him a squeeze. “Don’t worry. I called Krennic a lying asshole in an interview, too.”

Cassian patted his back and Jyn gave him a small but real smile. While they all could use some time to decompress, they were whisked off to their next engagement instead. They had a few more weeks of this to go. Cassian would do his best to make it more enjoyable for Jyn. After that, he didn’t know what would happen. He tried not to mourn the loss of his winter holiday with her too much. She was with him now and still seemed to like his attention, despite what was going on.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jyn makes some plans with her agent Bodhi.

“Why didn’t you tell me Krennic was trying to get me on another project of his?!?” Jyn shouted through the phone at Bodhi.

“Because I really did not want you to know that,” was Bodhi’s all-too-sensible response.

“Yeah, well, he called me to try and get me to work with him.” Jyn was pacing back and forth in the small kitchen area of her father’s cottage in Cambridge.

“Call you? Why did you answer?”

“I thought it was you!”

“He was calling from my number?!?” Now it was Bodhi’s turn to panic.

“No, idiot, I thought it was you calling me back, I just answered without looking at who was calling.”

“Oh.” Bodhi breathed a sigh of relief. “What did you tell him?”

“I told him that it had always been my dream to work with him and I was so excited for the opportunity to film a love scene with him.”

“The sarcasm isn’t necessary or appreciated.”

“What do you _think_ I told him?” Jyn was starting to think she really did need a new agent.

“I’m assuming the least polite version of ‘no’ you could think of.”

“That’s correct.” The sound of rain against the window drew attention to the grey outside. The small, foggy island of Jyn’s childhood was living up to its reputation - she had not seen the sun since she’d been here.

“What did he use to try and get you to say yes?”

“That he’d drop the whole sleeping-with-my-mum nonsense. I’d rather fuck a rusty chainsaw.” She heard Bodhi choke on a laugh. “I don’t understand why he thought that would work.”

“Well…”

“ _Bodhi_.”

He took a breath. “There is some concern…”

“Yes?” hissed Jyn, growing more impatient.

“...that Krennic could be about to do something else.”

Some concern? By whom? About what? “Who are you talking to about this?”

Silence.

“Bodhi, I swear, I don’t care that the entire Atlantic ocean is separating us, I will come over there and-”

“Leia and Han and Draven and Kay.”

That brought Jyn up short. “Not Cassian?”

“No, we were working on a way to deal with Krennic without involving either of you.”

They were not leaving her out of this. “I want in.”

“Jyn, Leia thinks-”

“Don’t ‘Leia thinks’ me. I’m not afraid of her. This is non-negotiable.”

“Fine, but only if you admit that you are afraid of Leia.”

“Fine.” Everyone was afraid of Leia, none more so than Han Solo, Leia’s boyfriend, who also happened to be one of Jyn’s favorite people in Hollywood. The industry was full of assholes, but Han wasn’t one of them, as much as he sometimes tried to blend in.

“Please don’t tell Cassian.”

“Okay.” Jyn had exactly zero intention of telling Cassian.

“Jyn, please-”

There must’ve been something in her voice with that last ‘okay’ to worry Bodhi, but Jyn had really meant it. Cassian got extremely upset at any mention of Krennic, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. She knew his close call with the man was a primary reason he was so active in charities dedicated to help people who had been abused as children.

“I won’t tell him. I don’t want him to have to deal with Krennic. It upsets him too much.”

“How is Cassian?” Bodhi asked, sounding generally concerned.

Jyn’s throat constricted as she thought about this question. “He’s, uh, wandering around Mexico City.” 

Which didn’t answer Bodhi’s question at all, but he seemed to understand what she was trying to say. “Leia was thinking about having him come stay with her.”

Jyn was nodding, relieved, even though Bodhi couldn’t see her. “That would be good.”

“How often do you talk to him?”

“All the time.” She had discovered that Cassian could be reached at 2 am as easily as he could be reached at 2 pm. They had decided, at the conclusion of the press tour, the best thing to do would be to do as the studio asked, like ripping off a band-aid, to get their fake break-up over with. Jyn had gone to Cambridge, to visit with her estranged father, while Cassian had gone home to Mexico City. The separation was hard on both of them, but she gathered that Cassian was feeling rather helpless.

“Give him my best,” Bodhi told her.

“I will.” The fact that Bodhi obviously cared what was going on with Cassian made her feel better, even if he was only doing it for her sake.

“Oh, and Jyn?”

“Yes?”

“You get to tell Leia you’re involved.” Bodhi hung up without saying good-bye.

Jyn pulled the phone away from her ear to glare at it, since Bodhi wasn’t there in front of her for her to glare at him.

“Everything okay?”

Jyn looked up to see her father enter the kitchen, dripping from the rain. “It was just Bodhi.” After years of barely speaking to one another, they had taken the first tentative steps toward having a relationship, but Jyn didn’t feel comfortable talking to him about Cassian. When he had told her he was sorry her relationship had ended, Jyn had flinched away from the comment and quickly changed the subject.

“And what did Bodhi have to say?” her father asked, hanging his wet coat on a hook and moving to make both of them some tea.

“He thinks I might be able to do both projects I told you about earlier.” This wasn’t a lie, exactly. The call before the last one with Bodhi had been about trying to cram as many of the various offers Jyn was now receiving into her schedule.

“That’s good.”

“Yeah,” said Jyn with a weak smile, looking down at her hands.

Her father came to sit across the table from her. “Stardust.” Jyn looked up. She hadn’t heard him use her nickname in ages. “He’s not worthy of you. You’ll find someone who is.”

Jyn looked away, startling herself with the fact that she was starting to cry. “That’s not-” but she was too choked up to finish. The last thing she wanted to hear was anything said against Cassian. She found herself wondering what horrible things Krennic must have told her father about him.

Her father reached out to take her hand, but was interrupted by the tea kettle, so he settled for squeezing her shoulder as he got up to take care of it.

Jyn, staring out the window at the rain, tried to comfort herself with the fact that she was sure Han could get her into Leia’s without being seen.

*

Han was definitely good with sneaking Jyn into Leia’s place, and she made him keep it a secret, so she got to surprised Cassian. He had been in Leia’s expansive kitchen, sitting on a stool while he chatted with her, when Jyn had come up from behind and wrapped her arms around him. Cassian made a startled sound and then didn’t say anything for a while, as he wrapped his arms tightly around her and buried his head in the space between her neck and shoulder. It was so quiet Jyn could hear the fan going overhead. Leia and Han were nowhere to be seen, giving them some privacy.

Finally lifting his head up, only to kiss her, Cassian asked, “How did you-”

“Han-” she said, kissing him back. He grunted and smiled and continued to kiss her. Jyn noticed it looked like he had been trying desperately not to cry, but she didn’t say anything, just continued to kiss him and hold him close. One hand played with the loose hair around his ear, twirling it around her finger. He laughed softly, that low, wonderful sound she loved so much, as he kissed along her jaw line. “You do like doing that,” he mumbled into her skin.

“Mmmm,” was Jyn’s only response, a smile on her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -I highly enjoy writing Bodhi as Jyn's agent. It's a different dynamic between them than what's in the movie, and it is a lot of fun to play with!
> 
> -'small, foggy island' is a Horatio Hornblower reference.
> 
> -This was originally going to end with the scene between Jyn and her father, but that was depressing and I wanted it to end on a happier note, and it is my fic so I made that happen.
> 
> -As always, thank you so much for reading and commenting/liking, it means a lot to me!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jyn and Cassian go on vacation.

Jyn watched the crackling fire as she played with Cassian’s hair. He was asleep with his head on her chest, the two of them laid out on a couch in the cabin Han had told them about. Leia’s immediate response to hearing from Jyn on how she wanted to be part of the plot to bring down Krennic was to make Jyn take Cassian some place far away from Los Angeles. Granted, Leia didn’t have to try all that hard to get Jyn to concede to this plan. Cassian had wanted to take her somewhere cold when filming wrapped, and while they didn’t get to do it immediately Jyn decided that now was a good time. So they were holed up in a rather nicely furnished cabin in the woods in the sparsely populated Atlantic provinces region of Canada. Leia had urged them to have as little contact with the outside world as they could manage. Jyn was pretty sure it was so Leia could keep them out of her way, but Jyn honestly didn’t mind participating in this particular scheme of Leia’s. Especially when it was designed to make Cassian happy.

What skiing there was here was the cross-country kind, and both Jyn and Cassian had quickly decided things like snow mobiles were more fun. Cassian was a bit more used to the weather conditions than Jyn was, as he had done a number of location shoots in frigid places around the globe. When she complained, he told her to put another layer on and promised to make sure she was warm at night, a promise he was good at keeping.

The thing that delighted Jyn the most was being able to watch Cassian’s natural curiosity be given its full rein. She had seen it in bits here and there, but he never had the time he wanted to explore the location they were shooting at or the city there were promoting in when he was tied up with work. Their remote Canadian location allowed him plenty of time to wander around, enjoying the scenery and wildlife, as well as figuring out the different outdoor activities available to them.

Upon finding fishing poles in the cabin, Cassian had gone to the proprietors and asked for ice fishing lessons. With good natured amusement, the couple had taken them both out on the ice - Jyn had no interest in learning to fish, especially not in this weather, but she had a great deal of interest in Cassian, and she had wanted to see how he and ice fishing got on. It was mostly threading the reels and picking the right lure and sitting in the cold, though Cassian did manage to catch a fish, much to the surprise of everyone. It was too small to be worth keeping and eating, so they had let it go, but Jyn could tell even catching a small fish had pleased Cassian.

Their days were filled with outdoor activities, and when it got too cold they headed inside for board games that got way too competitive, watching various movies they both wanted to see, and other activities to keep themselves warm.

“Would you want to live in a place like this?” Cassian asked softly. Jyn hadn’t realized he was awake.

“You mean, in the freezing cold?” she asked, moving a finger to trace the line of his jaw.

Cassian laughed so quietly she could barely hear him, but she certainly felt him, seeing as the length of his body was pressed against hers. “No, I mean in a house like this. Maybe a little bigger, but not those huge, expansive mansions they have in Los Angeles.”

“You mean, a house more like this and less like Leia’s.”

“Yeah.”

Jyn was quiet, thinking. Her comfortable memories of a happy childhood home had been shattered when her father had moved them from place to place, country to country, looking for a cure for her mother’s cancer. Since she had left after her mother died, she had never really had a home. When she moved to London to get theater jobs, she had spent it bouncing from place to place, often staying with a friend or even an acquaintance of a friend, as London was much too expensive for her to afford a place of her own. When she moved to Los Angeles, trying to make it big in Hollywood, she had on more than one occasion roomed with Bodhi. She was often in different places on jobs or auditions. Having a home wasn’t a thing that Jyn did.

Come to think of it, Cassian had a home that was more like this and less like Leia’s. His home was only small by the extravagant standards of Hollywood, but it was incredibly inviting and comfortable, even though Cassian never spent much time there. “Are you asking me to move in with you?”

“If you want to,” he said gently.

Jyn’s heart was in her throat, but her answer was immediate. “Yes.”

He lifted his head to look at her, smiling so the laugh lines around his eyes stood out. “Do you think Leia would let me leave her house if I took you with me?”

Jyn, smiling at him in turn, licked her lips and said, “Oh, so is this just a ploy to get out of Leia’s?”

“Maybe,” Cassian said, leaning in to kiss her. Jyn was glad he did, she was getting impatient - Cassian above her, eyes dark and hair falling in his face, smiling, was irresistibly kissable.

*

Cassian was making his way out of the sound studio, where he had been recording some voice work for a project. Heading home, he was thinking about when Jyn had moved in with him, he had looked around at her few boxes and asked, “Don’t you have… things?”

“What things would I have?” Jyn asked, standing in the middle of the boxes.

He wanted to ask about all the things that accompanied a life - furniture, kitchen appliances and utensils, random decorating crap, but what came out was, “All the things you have to wear to market a movie.”

Jyn shrugged. “I give most of the clothes away.” Like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Which, to Cassian, it wasn’t, because he knew plenty of people regardless of gender who did not give anything at all away, and the homes in the area where littered with the large closets to prove it.

But Jyn was not used to having anywhere to put anything.

Gingerly, he stepped through her few boxes of things, and took her face in his hands. “You have a home now.” He saw her eyes water but she didn’t look away as he ran his thumbs along her cheekbones, leaning down to follow with kisses.

Maybe if Cassian had been thinking less about Jyn and more about paying attention to where he was going, he would have seen Krennic in time to avoid him.

“Cassian,” Krennic greeted him with his slimy smile. “I have recently been given the opportunity to direct and-” Cassian simply tried to skirt around Krennic, and while the other man made no move to block Cassian’s path, he did say, “I don’t think you want to do that.”

Cassian decided his best bet was just to keep walking. “I have pictures. Of you and Jyn,” Krennic said to Cassian’s retreating back.

Of course. Of course he would wait, until Cassian was well past him and almost to the door, to say something like that, so Cassian had to turn around and crawl back to him.

Krennic showed him the photos - somehow, he had gotten images of him and Jyn at the cabin in Canada. Though only outside shots, Cassian was relieved to see.

“The studio wouldn’t be very happy if these got out.”

Did Krennic think he was stupid? He’d fulfilled his contract with the studio, they wouldn’t care. Again, Cassian turned to leave. “And just what will Jyn Erso think of the man she loves, allowing intimate pictures of her to be plastered all over the internet?”

Those pictures didn’t show anything of Jyn that hadn’t already been all over the internet, and Cassian knew she’d be much more upset about him working with Krennic. He kept moving away.

“One more thing, Cassian.”

Cassian couldn’t help but glance back, to see Krennic was holding out a different picture. This one had clearly been doctored to show-

“How would those charities you represent react, to know you engaged in the activities you sought to protect people from?”

Cassian stood frozen out of horror. It wasn’t just about him - the people Krennic was aiming to hurt were the same people Krennic always aimed at. Cassian wished Krennic would pick on people his own size, but the problem was Cassian could fight back. Those at the charity he worked for couldn’t. Having a spokesperson be accused of the very thing they were seeking help for would only make everything worse.

Cassian couldn’t think of much worse than ‘Director Krennic’. Except helping Krennic continue to hurt the same people he always went after.

“I want you for your acting skills, for your name recognition. Having someone of your stature would create quite the buzz for my directorial debut.” Cassian was registering everything Krennic was saying, if only dully. It was all meaningless, only the threat of what Krennic wanted to do mattered.

Cassian signed the contract.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jyn and Cassian have a chat.

Jyn walked out onto Cassian’s patio - she supposed it was _their_ patio, now - pulling her sweater tighter around her. It was late, and chilly. Cassian sat in the dark, looking out over the city lights.

Jyn sat in a chair next to him. She felt terrible for him and was also incredibly angry at him, though she didn’t feel like her normal blunt aggressiveness would work well in this situation. She had tried waiting inside to calm down and let him come to her, but she had grown bored and impatient.

“Are you cold?” she asked him. That was not what she came to talk about, but she needed to start somewhere, and elected not to start with swearing at him.

“I’m fine.” She had not expected any other answer.

“You should have told me.” One question was enough of a conversation starter. Jyn didn't do subtle, and it had ended more than one relationship.

“I didn’t want to. I know how you feel about Krennic.”

“As little as I know about how to have a functional relationship, I’m pretty sure you need to tell me things even if you don’t want to.”

“I’m sorry.” Jyn turned to look at him. She could barely see his profile in the sparse light. He was slumped in the chair, propping his head up with his hand, his elbow resting on the chair’s arm.

“Cassian.” He turned his head to her, though she couldn’t see much of his expression. “Let me help you.”

“Can I stop you?”

“Do you want to?”

“I don’t want you to have to have anything to do with him.”

“I won’t. There’s nothing about this that would mean I have to deal with him. I’m just trying to make it so you don’t, either.”

She heard Cassian sigh, a resigned, frustrated sound. “It’s awful, you know, that the only way to discredit him and make the studio back down is to smear him with animal cruelty.” That had been Jyn’s idea - she had remembered how Krennic had once tried to smear her mother, hinting that she enjoyed fox hunting, a horrifically cruel sport. Honestly, Jyn didn’t understand what her father ever saw in the man. Well, they could use that against him, now. Cassian was right, though, it was pretty awful that no one thought even the smear of child abuse would be enough to damage Krennic. Hollywood could be horrifying.

“Is it a smear, though? Humans are animals, after all,” Jyn pointed out.

“Most people don’t look at it that way.”

“I’m not out here trying to comfort most people.” Jyn couldn’t make him out, exactly, but she would’ve sworn he closed his eyes and smiled.

“You could’ve told me, you know,” he said.

Jyn bit back the defensive ‘told you what?’ question that was her initial response. She knew what. Cassian’s ‘I didn’t want to’ rang in her ears. “You know how you don’t want me to deal with him? Well, I don’t want you to have to, either.”

“We should maybe not do this separately.” It hadn’t worked out for them - at least if Cassian had known, he would’ve been prepared for Krennic, and he would’ve known he had a lot of people helping him. He had Kay, though, and Jyn was grateful that Kay felt other people needed to know about this.

“Is that a promise?” she asked.

“Yes.”

Jyn shivered and pulled her sweater tighter, rubbing her hand on her jeans. “If it makes you feel any better, Leia didn’t want to tell me, either.”

“No?”

“But she involved Bodhi, and…” Jyn trailed off.

“Ah.”

“She made me take you on vacation, just to get me out of the way. She did not have to push hard, though.”

“Kay was not very happy that Leia left him out of the loop.”

“She didn’t want to tell you.” Cassian snorted in response. Kay was to be trusted even less than Bodhi with such information. “She didn’t tell me she was trying to get Krennic removed from the project, either.” And it was Leia’s move that had forced Krennic’s hand - with him landing an actor of Cassian’s stature, the studio would be more likely to keep him on, regardless of what pressure Leia put on certain producers.

“I wish Draven would’ve agreed to take over as director.” The plan was still to get Krennic removed from the project, making him too toxic to touch, which freed Cassian from having to work with Krennic but left him wondering who the next director would be. Provided everything went to plan, which was not guaranteed.

“Yeah, well, only once every ten years.” Draven had been at the meeting that had followed Cassian telling Kay about the contract and then Kay telling basically everyone, because Kay was not here to keep Cassian’s projects a secret. Especially, for some reason, if he thought they were a terrible idea. And he definitely felt this was a terrible idea, because Kay kept repeating it. He stood up for Cassian, though, when Draven complained that Cassian shouldn’t have signed the contract. “What did you want him to do?” Kay had demanded. “Risk his reputation when he had no idea the rest of you were planning anything? Besides, Cassian signing lets Krennic think he won and buys us time.”

Kay’s support of Cassian was a warm memory, but it was getting to be much too cold outside for Jyn. She got up and moved over to the jacuzzi, removing the protective covering and quickly stripping to get inside. She closed her eyes and sighed with relief once fully immersed in the water.

“Are you going to come join me?”

Jyn’s question caught Cassian off guard - he had been watching her enjoy the hot water, the lights illuminating her face from below. His heart ached, his whole body ached from the day. Jyn had the right idea, but he hesitated to join her. She hadn’t so much removed the cover as flug it aside, as though it offended her. Jyn was not here for anything that got in her way. The memory of the afternoon’s confrontation lingered, after Kay had plainly told Cassian this was all a terrible idea and then called Leia, of all people. “She is the person I call when you’re being stupid, Cassian,” Kay had said. “It used to be just us, Kay,” Cassian had tried not to whine. “Is that what you want?” Kay asked him. “For the two of us to deal with this ourselves?” Cassian had said nothing, and Kay made the phone call.

Which had lead to him, Kay, Leia, Han, Bodhi, Jyn and Draven having a heated discussion about what to do in Leia’s kitchen. At one point, Jyn had knocked some glassware on the ground. Cassian still didn’t know if it was intentional or not, though Jyn had looked embarrassed and immediately promised Leia she would pay for it.

Jyn sent a splash of water Cassian’s way, finally prompting him to move. She was either trying to get his attention or trying to get him to go away. Seeing as she rarely did the later, he walked cautiously toward the jacuzzi.

“Are you coming in with your clothes on?”

Cassian smiled, appreciative that Jyn could make him smile even when he felt like this, and quickly stripped to join her. Grateful for the hot water - he hadn’t realized he was cold - he reached out a hand to brush the hair from Jyn’s face and leaned over the plant a kiss on her check. “Are you still mad at me?” he asked.

“Yes,” said Jyn, as she reached out to pull Cassian close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've known what I wanted to do with this chapter for awhile but the how took me longer to figure out. In the end, though, this story is about Jyn and Cassian, so I went with them, instead of depicting all of the various conversations that are alluded to here. 
> 
> Thanks so much for all your comments, they are greatly appreciated!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another premiere.

“Bodhi.” Jyn was pacing back and forth in a small hotel bathroom. People were waiting for her outside.

“Yes?” Bodhi was one of those people, so he was more than a little perplexed when Jyn called his cell phone.

“What if it’s a mistake?” Jyn was whispering loudly. Bodhi was impressed the noise wasn’t traveling through the door. He moved away, to speak to Jyn in some privacy. She could’ve just asked him to come into the bathroom with her, but, well, it was Jyn. She had probably decided she wanted to talk to him after she had gone in there.

“Which potential mistake are we talking about here?”

Jyn huffed. “The _premiere_.”

“Why would it be a mistake?”

“What if it doesn’t go well?”

“Are you worried about tripping?”

“ _Bodhi_.”

“Jyn. You have done this before.”

“It was fake, though.”

“And since you’ve seen him naked that will make it harder?”

Jyn worried at her lower lip. “Well, I had seen him mostly naked before.”

“Since you’ve seen his orgasim face that will make it harder?”

“Well, I had seen that, too.”

Bodhi paused. “Wait, are you telling me that’s his actual face while having sexy times?”

“First off, stop calling it ‘sexy times’, you know I hate that-”

“Oh, sorry, I meant fucking-” Bodhi said, speaking over her.

“SECONDLY,” Jyn said, loudly, forcing Bodhi to shut up, “he’s very good at faking it.”

Bodhi was laughing. “I’m not entirely sure how to take that, but please tell me more details about your sex life.”

Jyn hung up on him.

Her phone buzzed a few minutes later. _Everything will be okay_. Jyn almost ignored it, but instead texted back _thanks_.

She turned to go back to the people who were helping her get ready besides Bodhi, a stylist and makeup artist and hairdresser, when she decided to text her father. _I’m nervous_.

A quick response: _You’ll do well, my stardust_.

Jyn took a deep breath and blew it out. Finally, she felt capable of getting ready. She had made appearances at many premieres before, but never quite like this. She had gone to promote her own movies, or to support someone else while attempting to draw attention to herself. She had even gone as part of a studio-arranged relationship for added publicity.

But she had never gone in support of the person she cared most about who making his directorial debut.

*

Everyone was here. Even Draven had come out, to make a public appearance in support of someone else, which he almost never did. Han and Leia were walking the red carpet together, much to everyone’s delight, and helping with the publicity. “Maybe we should spread this out,” Cassian had said to Kay. “Spread it out on what?” Kay had asked, and Cassian let the matter drop. He had meant all the publicity the different people would bring, but, well, at least they were coming out at all. It still stunned Cassian that he had friends like these in this business.

And Jyn was going - as his date. They had not done a public appearance, or made any public acknowledgement of their relationship after their contract-mandated ‘break-up’ two years prior. There are been speculation in the tabloids - they were occasionally seen in the same area, and they did live together, though it was amazing how if that wasn’t announced, people didn’t go looking. He had checked with her a million times, to make sure she was okay with this. The last time, she had shown him the Givenchy dress her stylist had scored for her for this appearance. He had stopped asking, after that.

It had been Jyn's idea, Cassian taking over as director after the studio had distanced themselves from the public-relations disaster Krennic had become. Cassian had done his best not to pay attention, but as it directly affected him personally, he found that hard. But Leia and Draven had jumped on Jyn's idea, and at their suggestion the studio had moved quickly to save the project. Cassian had never directed before but it was something he had always been interested in, though he really had never expected Hollywood to give him that chance.

He fiddled nervously in the hall of the hotel they were staying at before heading out to the premiere. Despite the fact that they lived in Los Angeles, it was far more convenient to get ready at a nearby hotel, because getting anywhere in the city generally required several hours at the best of times, and it was poor form to show up late to a promotional event as big as this one. 

He stopped his fidgeting once he saw Jyn, coming down the hallway towards him. She was wearing the dress she had shown him. It was a form-fitting black sheath with a jeweled collar, and Jyn looked stunning. Gold bracelets, including the one Cassian had given her, adorned both wrists, and the stylish gold earrings that were a new gift from Cassian on her ears, visible as her brown hair was pulled up on top of her head.

He let his eyes travel over her appreciatively, while Jyn held her position and watched. Lifting his eyes to her face, he found that she was smiling a soft, appreciative smile at him that made him melt.

She took his hand as they made their way down to the waiting car. Cassian’s thumb ran over her knuckles as he sat, looking out the window on the short drive to the theater.

“You don’t think he’ll show up, do you?” Cassian asked quietly, not taking his eyes from the passing images, as though looking for something. Or someone.

Jyn tugged on his hand, pulling it closer to her. Cassian turned towards her as she said, “No. And if he does, you’re not alone.”

“Thanks,” said Cassian, giving her a lovely smile.

She couldn’t help but respond in kind. “Ready?”

He nodded, and they headed out into the lights.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for taking this journey with me and all your comments and encouragement along the way!


End file.
